Total Eclipse of the Sun

While many of us in the United States were still asleep early this morning, there was a total eclipse of the sun visible to some parts of the world stretching from South America eastward to Asia. NASA has a lot of information available on their website, along with pictures and video clips.
Here is a short blurb from NASA:

This year's eclipse is also special because the total phase lasts over 4 minutes at the center of the path. This is quite long for a total solar eclipse since most last just a minute or two. The next total eclipse,on August 1, 2008, will be seen in northern Canada, Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia and northern China. It will last about 2 minutes. The next total eclipse visible from the United States won’t happen until August 21, 2017.

At Exploratorium.edu, you can view an archived webcast of the event in addition to reading a wealth of information regarding the eclipse. There, you can also see an image explaining the narrow path of totality.

Finally, ABC News has a brief slideshow of pictures for viewing here.

Remembering the Challenger: 20 Years Later

It's hard to believe that it has been 20 years since the world witnessed the disaster of the Challenger space shuttle, live on January 28, 1986. It is one of those events, like 9/11, that people remember by where they were at the time it happened. I, for one, was in 2nd grade and remember watching it on TV with classmates and teachers in a classroom in my Catholic grade school. Perhaps what made it so devastating, besides the fact that 7 people died, was the fact that those of us watching were watching to witness a piece of space history. We weren't watching it as we would a movie, to be entertained...we were watching it as a nation identifying with real people heading to a place that we still don't fully understand. Christa McAuliffe, the chosen applicant for the Teacher in Space program, was one of those real people.

A documentary entitled Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars will air on CNN this Saturday, January 28th at 8:00 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. It will also air during those same time slots on Sunday, January 29th. Here is a Space.com article about the film.

The National Geographic Channel will also air a documentary about the disaster entitled Challenger: The Untold Story. This will be shown at the same time as the CNN documentary, on Saturday, January 28th at 8:00 & 11:00. However, it will re-air on Monday, January 30th at 12 noon. There will also be a few more airings after that. Check listings for further information.

There are also a number of good resources on the net with information about the Challenger disaster, including images, sound files, and video. Here are a few:

• Kennedy Space Center: Shuttle Mission Archive
• Launch Quicktime Video (with sound)
• Challenger Center for Space Science Education
• NASA: Day of Remembrance (flash presentation)
• NASA:
Various Reports and Info
• NASA: Video files (no sound)
• Space.com - Article, including a Mission Control transmission file